Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Invests $22.98 Million in W.P. Carey Inc. $WPC

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 321,328 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $22,975,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jacobs Equity LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.P. Carey during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $435,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.P. Carey in the second quarter worth $199,000. Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new stake in W.P. Carey in the second quarter valued at $7,170,000. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of W.P. Carey in the 2nd quarter worth about $266,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of W.P. Carey during the second quarter worth about $128,034,000. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WPC. BNP Paribas Exane raised W.P. Carey from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $88.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wolfe Research raised W.P. Carey from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, June 8th. Citigroup reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of W.P. Carey in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on W.P. Carey from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of W.P. Carey in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.P. Carey has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.38.

W.P. Carey Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WPC opened at $70.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $72.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.56. W.P. Carey Inc. has a 52-week low of $63.08 and a 52-week high of $77.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.75.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from W.P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. W.P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is 128.33%.

About W.P. Carey

W. P. Carey Inc is a diversified net-lease real estate investment trust specializing in single-tenant commercial properties. The company structures sale-leaseback and build-to-suit transactions to provide long-term net lease financing across a variety of asset classes, including industrial facilities, office buildings, retail centers and self-storage facilities. By employing triple net leases, W. P. Carey transfers property operating expenses, taxes and maintenance responsibility to tenants, creating a stable, predictable income stream for investors.

Founded in 1973 by William Polk Carey, the firm has expanded organically and through strategic mergers and acquisitions.